Cleaning of hard surfaces, such as floors (vinyl, linoleum, tile, cement), countertops, showers, etc. is well known in the art. Cleaning may be accomplished using cellulosic paper towels and non-woven sheets, as are well known in the art. Nonwoven sheets may be made according to commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,936,330 and/or U.S. Pat. No. 6,797,357. Cellulosic paper towels may be made according to commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,609 and/or U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,859.
Such sheets have been removably attached to manual implements. The implements increase reach, and improve ergonomics. For example, when the hard surface to be cleaned is a floor, the implement allows the user to clean from a standing position, improving comfort over cleaning from a crouched position or on the knees. Manual implements may be made according to commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,684,619; 6,305,046 and/or D588,770.
One problem encountered when cleaning floors is that a user can encounter tacky soils, which tend to stick to the floor, and/or encounter a variety of fine soils, such as dust, granular soils, dried food debris, plants, mud, etc. which tend to stick to the floor less. To improve cleaning of soluble and tacky stains, wetted and wettable floor sheets have been used. Pre-wetted floor sheets include those having APG polymers, as disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,805. Wettable floor sheets have been used with the commercially available Swiffer WetJet® device. This device sprays cleaning solution onto the floor from a replaceable reservoir, as described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 8,186,898. Cleaning solution chemistry and a reservoir therefor may be made according to commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,392. Floor sheets which absorb cleaning solution from the floor may be made according to commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,960,508, 6,101,661 and/or U.S. Pat. No. 7,144,173.
But these attempts do not always sufficiently clean the entire range of soils encountered, particularly large particles, such as cereal and chunks of mud from the floor. To overcome the problem of loose, large particle cleaning, rotatable beater bars have been utilized, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,783, reissued Jun. 28, 1881; U.S. Pat. No. 306,008 issued Sep. 30, 1884; U.S. Pat. No. 329,257 issued Oct. 27, 1885; U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,927 issued Apr. 7, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,161 issued Nov. 14, 2006. The beater bars in these teachings are driven by the wheels. Particularly, each of these references teaches plural wheels contacting the floor to be cleaned. The wheels drive the beater bar, obviating the need for a separate electric motor. Electric motors add cost and weight to the device. Split beater bars have also been used, as shown in 2005/0055792 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,161.
Many mechanical sweepers use beater bars comprising nylon bristles. Bristles may also be used on carpets, where bristles can help loosen hair. Bristles can be prone to hair/lint/thread wrapping which may degrade performance. Since mechanical sweepers rely on momentum for pick-up, contaminated bristles reduce cleaning capability. Additionally, bristles can separate, requiring higher rotational speed to reduce bristle separation, and minimize particles passing through the bristles. Accordingly, some beater bars use fins or blades.
Powered devices may have a beater bar which is battery powered or AC line powered to aid in picking up soil. These devices have higher rotational speeds and can be more effective than mechanically driven beater bars at picking up particles. But powered devices can be inconvenient if battery life is depleted or cord length is insufficient.
Devices which also use a disposable sheet to assist in cleaning are known as illustrated by EP 1027855; US 2009/0077761; U.S. Pat. No. 7,013,528; U.S. Pat. No. 7,346,428 and commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,676,877. The disposable sheet may be attached to the implement using grippers, as described in commonly assigned 2014/0026344. Exemplary 2009/0077761, U.S. Pat. No. 7,013,528, U.S. Pat. No. 7,346,428 and EP 1027855 show the common arrangement of having a sheet attached to the bottom of the device. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,676,877 teaches a cleaning implement having a pivotable bottom wall to which a cleaning substrate may be attached. Commonly assigned 2013/0333129 teaches a device having a rotary beater bar and a cleaning sheet proximate thereto.
But even with dual mode pickup devices, having a beater bar followed by a cleaning sheet, not all debris may be captured from the target surface. One problem with devices having dual mode pickup is that debris may pass between the two pickup modes. E.g. debris not captured by the beater bar may bypass the cleaning sheet, and more specifically, debris may pass between a beater bar and sheet. If such debris is not captured, that debris remains on the floor and the cleaning task may be unsatisfactory.
One potential solution would be to provide a lip at the entrance to the beat bar pathway. The lip could drag on the floor similar to a dustpan. But this attempt at a solution may lead to drag in use and/or scratches on a wood floor. Clearly a better approach is needed to prevent bypass debris from remaining on the floor following cleaning.